Rose
by Runaway Wordette
Summary: Ino likes to compare people to flowers by their traits and actions. She has always seen herself as the rose, most beautiful of all and Sasuke has been her partner flower. Sakura is the cherry blossom, easily crushed and common. But now, who really is the rose? SasuSaku and ShikaIno


**This is kinda messy, but I still think it deserves to be posted. I had the idea and I honestly think that maybe it could be a little better, but I think it would take too much time to fix. So here's my little oneshot with a some pretty symbolism. **

**Disclaimer: So unfair. NO I DON'T OWN NARUTO!**

**Review if you like!**

* * *

Roses are undoubtedly the most beautiful flower. Many things make them beautiful. Their stems are emerald green and slender, full of elegance and refinement. There are the petals too. I loved the petals with their beautiful silky texture that slid like liquid across your skin and the deep colors they possessed.

Roses are perfection. Simple as that. I always liked to compare people to flowers. Shikamaru was the dandelion, something that swayed in the wind without a care, releasing wishes. Chouji was the daisy. Simple but sweet and something most people tended to ignore. My mother was a lily, beautiful and strong.

Those were apt predictions of my genin mind. They haven't changed one bit, I'm glad to say. But two have. There was Sakura. Her names says it all, yes I thought she was the Sakura blossom. She was beautiful, no denying that, but in a way that you had to look close to see. You had to look close to see the shine her hair held and the sparkle in her downturned eyes. Yes, she was a special sakura blossom in a way, but that was the one thing about sakura blossoms. There are many, so many that one never stands out. There are many girls like her, who chase after _him, _doting on him, pledging her love. She was like all the other blossoms, unlike me, Ino, the beautiful rose. Or so I thought.

My other now changed comparison was of my first love. Yes, the traitor, the villain, the avenger. I really did like him, but now looking back, I know I never really loved him. To me, he was my partner rose. After all, in flower arrangements, two of the same flowers are more often paired together. Our arrangement was rookie nine and my silly reasoning had made me and Sasuke, the center. We were the beautiful roses everyone envied and desired.

Now I know better. When I saw Sakura sobbing on the bench the morning after he had left, I had for the first time empathized with her. Her heart was broken and as I turned to leave the pitiful scene, I had mused that she really was a sakura blossom, easily crushed.

* * *

I think the first time I doubted my opinion was on a mission. Sakura had been stuck on our team as a medic and I was irritated that we had deadweight to tote around. After all, why should Ino the rose have babysitting duty for the crushed sakura blossom? Her eyes were still red, even though it had been a year. She still cried herself to sleep and still visited the bench daily. I felt sorry for her. The mission was a simple one. Exterminate a rouge jounin level missing nin. Sakura was sent with us just in case. Thank god she was there. We were ambushed by a large group of the missing nin's friends. They were all strong, armed, and sadistically ready to kill. I was terrified. There were so, so many with so, so many kunai. Ino the rose was wilting, she was about to be crushed. Suddenly she was there. Punching and kicking, stabbing and slashing, she was lethal with such grace and accuracy. I could only watch as she fought off the ninja from me and Shikamaru who had been swamped. She exterminated them like ants and then went to go save Chouji. My mind whirled with confusion. What just happened? Was I just rescued by a crushed Sakura blossom? Impossible. By the time she finished with the last group I had regained enough strength to run and cry over Chouji who was lying motionless on the ground. Why couldn't she have saved him first? I didn't deserve to live, no one deserved to live more than Chouji. I felt a hand close around my shoulder and throw me back. I went sprawling and staring in shock as Sakura's hands began to glow green. I felt Shikamaru grab me and hold me, whispering calming things in my ear as I watched the Sakura blossom save one of my teammate's lives. Then I realized, she may be crying herself to sleep and visiting the bench, but whenever she could, she was fighting. She was fighting off her sakura blossom image and while I watched her, I wondered if I was still Ino the rose.

* * *

I realized she was a rose at the battle. I was a jounin now, but she was an ANBU. It was the battle between Sasuke and Itachi and Orochimaru. My team was sent out to help, but God what could we have done? We were way out of our league and as I watched the blasts fly and the lightning quick hand seals, I knew if we interfered that we would be killed.

Sasuke was losing badly. Both of the legendary killers were too much for him and we watched from the safety of trees while he was getting pummeled. The ANBU wouldn't be here in time and if we hadn't been in the area already, we wouldn't have got here till the battle had finished. He was going to die.

Suddenly I heard the slap of sandals against tree bark and turned to see her. She was running full speed at the battle. Her green eyes were narrowed and determined and her clenched fingers held kunai in an expert grip. He raced past us, pink hair streaming behind her and into the fight.

"Sakura, you idiot, get the hell out of here!"

He actually spoke in a worried tone about her. I had long since given up on Sasuke, but the fact that he was feeling fear for her well being was something I acknowledged as extraordinary. Of course she ignored him and began to exchange blows with Orochimaru.

"You're annoying," I heard her yell over the booms and explosions. Sasuke paused for an instant and stared at her incredible fighting before a small smirk spread on his face.

The battle was incredible. Nearly fifty times I thought they were going to die, but somehow they always managed to pull through. They fought in perfect sync like a well oiled machine even though they hadn't seen each other in nearly five years. Sometimes I would see Sasuke looking at her, looking at her with something like awe in his normally empty eyes. She had changed.

When the battle was over, they both collapsed from exhaustion. The ground was torn and chewed up, filled with craters and scorch marks. Sakura had saved his life. She had took on a legendary sannin all on her own and won. I decided she must be something more than a sakura blossom, and I began to try and figure out what flower matched her new and unique spirit.

Suddenly my brain froze. She twitched and forced herself onto her elbows. I stared at her face and was amazed by what I saw in it. Fierce, burning, passion. Her eyes glittered with it and I watched as she began to crawl to his side. Where had the pathetic little girl with the large forehead gone?

I remembered how you had to look close to see her beauty, to see how extraordinary she was. Now her face screamed of it, even at a glance you would be able to tell she was gorgeous. She was supposed to be like the sakura blossoms. Hundreds on one small tree that were all similar and uninteresting.

But now though, I watched as she finally reached his side. With arms shaking from exhaustion, she gently turned him over and pressed her hands to his chest. Green chakra began to flow from her hands and into him and I felt my jaw drop in amazement. How was this possible? She had near no chakra left and she had forced herself to his side to heal him.

I watched her collapse and I finally began to run forward from my stunned position in the trees with the other members of my group. When I kneeled next to her and saw the peaceful smile on her face, there was only one thing I could think.

Of course I wasn't the rose, she had been the rose from day one after her love had left.

* * *

I smiled as I watched her walk onto the bridge, where her groom was waiting. They decided to have the wedding where it all began. It was beautiful day with clear skies and the smell of flowers wafting through the air.

She was wearing a long and simple white dress with her long silky hair flowing down to her back and in her hands was the bouquet I had arranged. In it were long elegant white roses and one red in the center. When she had seen it before the wedding, her eyes grew misty and she gave a little choked laugh. She had seen the symbolism too.

That had been my second opinion changed. I watched from my line with the bridesmaids as Tsunande began to read the vows. Sasuke's eyes were soft and almost tender, emotions I never thought would grace his beautiful face. He stroked her cheek and she smiled with more love I thought there was in the world. Sasuke had been a black rose, tainted and ruined. She had turned him to red, a color of passion and love.

'I love you,' I saw him mouth.

'Not as much as I love you,' was her silent reply.

Those two lines said by couples everywhere seemed cheesy and over used, but just seeing them mouth those words now, I thought there hadn't ever been two more beautiful sentences.

I felt my eyes brim with tears of joy and I turned to look at the crowd. I saw Shikamaru staring at me and I grinned, slowly wiping the corners of my eyes. His lips turned up in that small smile he only ever gave me and I saw him nod his head at the happy couple and mouth, 'We're next.'

* * *

I've figured out a lot of things since my genin days. Some not so good, some wonderful but I'm always going to be thankful to Sakura for showing me what a real rose was. She and her partner flower lived happily ever after, two beauties at the center of the arrangement.

Me? Well I've figured out now that I'm no rose. No, I'd much rather be a dandelion with my husband.


End file.
